“Maybe some learn it the hard way”: A nexus analysis of teachers mediating children’s online safety

Abstract

Worries over children’s online safety increase as ever younger children have their personal digital life. As digital technology use also increases in schools, teachers have natural opportunities to mediate children’s online safety. However, a better understanding of how it can be integrated with schoolwork is needed. We study how teachers mediate children’s online safety in primary schools. Through nexus analysis, we examine discourses of trust, control, and involvement that the teacher’s engage in. We also uncover many actors and history and experience related issues that shape the mediation of children’s online safety. This study results in a variety of ideas as regards how IS research can support teachers and schools in mediating children’s online safety.